Keystone XL Pipelinehttp://www.businessinsider.com/category/keystone-xl-pipeline
en-usTue, 03 Mar 2015 16:15:51 -0500Tue, 03 Mar 2015 16:15:51 -0500The latest news on Keystone XL Pipeline from Business Insiderhttp://static3.businessinsider.com/assets/images/bilogo-250x36-wide-rev.pngBusiness Insiderhttp://www.businessinsider.com
http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-vetoed-the-keystone-pipeline-2015-2 Obama vetoed the Keystone XL pipeline, but here's why approval is still possiblehttp://www.businessinsider.com/obama-vetoed-the-keystone-pipeline-2015-2
Thu, 26 Feb 2015 10:52:00 -0500Robert S. Eshelman
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/54ef3ffceab8ea165a86bcc7-710-532/obama-military-2.jpeg" border="0" alt="Obama military"></p><p>President Obama used his veto power on Tuesday for just the third time in his administration, sending back to Congress legislation approving construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport 800,000 barrels of oil per day from Alberta, Canada to refineries along the Gulf Coast.</p>
<p>"The Presidential power to veto legislation is one I take seriously. But I also take seriously my responsibility to the American people," Obama wrote in a two-paragraph communication to Congress. "And because this act of Congress conflicts with established executive branch procedures and cuts short thorough consideration of issues that could bear on our national interest — including our security, safety, and environment — it has earned my veto."</p>
<p>Obama has long pledged to send back to Congress the Keystone bill while the State Department continues to evaluate the merits of the project, a process that is now in its sixth year. The administration's lengthy review has drawn the ire of Republicans and some Democrats in Congress.</p>
<p>Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pledged that the Senate would "soon vote on an override."</p>
<p>Neither the Senate nor the House of Representatives can currently muster the two-thirds majority necessary for overturning the President's veto. The Senate remains four votes short, the House remains 11 votes shy.</p>
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RT <a href="https://twitter.com/StewSays">@StewSays</a>: The President vetoed the bipartisan <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KeystoneXL?src=hash">#KeystoneXL</a> jobs bill. The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Senate?src=hash">#Senate</a> will soon vote on an override. </p>— Sen. McConnell Press (@McConnellPress) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/570321072442220546">February 24, 2015</a>
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<p>In a video posted to his Twitter account, House Speaker John Boehner said the fight to approve Keystone was far from over.</p>
<p>"You know, the President says he's for the middle class, and he's for more jobs, but then he turns around and vetoes the Keystone pipeline," he said. "You have to wonder: What's he thinking?"</p>
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The fight is not over on the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KeystoneXL?src=hash">#KeystoneXL</a> pipeline. VIDEO: <a href="http://t.co/ce8XEz1Yn0">http://t.co/ce8XEz1Yn0</a> </p>— Speaker John Boehner (@SpeakerBoehner) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/570359843174789120">February 24, 2015</a>
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<p>Environmentalists quickly hailed the decision, but they urged the administration to issue a final ruling that the project would exacerbate the impacts of climate change and is therefore not in the national interest.</p>
<p>"We're glad the president vetoed this cynical, politically-motivated stunt," Amanda Starbuck of the Rainforest Action Network said. "However, a veto on its own is not enough. This movement has fought for years to stop the Keystone XL pipeline and we will accept nothing less than a final rejection. Keystone XL miserably fails the climate test, and if President Obama wants to be remembered as a leader on climate, his only option is rejection."</p>
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I may just watch this clip of the official veto of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KeystoneXL?src=hash">#KeystoneXL</a> bill on repeat all day: <a href="http://t.co/63aXAj4MY5">http://t.co/63aXAj4MY5</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NoKXL?src=hash">#NoKXL</a> </p>— David Turnbull (@david_turnbull) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/570325065507536896">February 24, 2015</a>
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<p>International diplomats have set a December deadline for securing an international climate agreement aimed at reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. Against this backdrop, climate activists have emphasized the hypocrisy of pledging to confront global warming, while enabling expanded fossil fuel use, should Obama approve the bill.</p>
<p>"Signing the Keystone XL legislation would have sent the wrong signal to international leaders looking to deliver a new global climate pact in Paris later this year, and undercut our nation's ability to drive progress toward that goal," said Todd Shelton, vice president for US government relations at the World Wildlife Fund. "The US must continue to exert strong leadership in charting a course to a future powered by clean, renewable energy rather than dirty and dangerous fossil fuels."</p>
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Obama to unions: drop dead I work for environmentalists. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KXL?src=hash">#KXL</a> </p>— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/570287474372694017">February 24, 2015</a>
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Veto celebration banners converging on the white house! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NoKXL?src=hash">#NoKXL</a> <a href="http://t.co/PV40dIhCs1">pic.twitter.com/PV40dIhCs1</a> </p>— Jason Kowalski (@JasonK350) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/570342060508590080">February 24, 2015</a>
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<p>But just as environmentalists began to celebrate outside the the White House, administration spokesperson Josh Earnest ensured continued speculation over the ultimate fate of the pipeline.</p>
<p>When asked if the Obama administration might approve the pipeline following its executive branch review, Earnest <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2015/02/24/earnest_certainly_is_possible_obama_will_approve_keystone_pipeline.html" target="_blank">said</a>: "That possibility still does exist."</p>
<p><a href="https://news.vice.com/article/obama-vetoes-keystone-xl-pipeline-legislation-but-white-house-says-approval-still-possible"><em>Toxic Waste in the US: Coal Ash</em>. Watch the VICE News documentary.</a></p>
<p><em>Follow Robert S. Eshelman on Twitter: </em><a href="https://twitter.com/RobertSEshelman" target="_blank">@RobertSEshelman</a></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/where-the-deepwater-horizon-oil-spill-went-2014-11" >Here's where all the oil from the deepwater horizon spill went</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-vetoed-the-keystone-pipeline-2015-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/end-fall-demise-mayan-civilization-new-evidence-2015-1">Scientists Discovered What Actually Wiped Out The Mayan Civilization</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-vetoes-keystone-xl-pipeline-bill-2015-2Obama vetoes Keystone XL pipeline billhttp://www.businessinsider.com/obama-vetoes-keystone-xl-pipeline-bill-2015-2
Tue, 24 Feb 2015 20:45:00 -0500Josh Lederman
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/54ed27e169bedd6d518b4569-1200-924/keystone-xl-pipeline.jpg" border="0" alt="Keystone XL pipeline"></p><p>WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defying the Republican-run Congress, President Barack Obama rejected a bill Tuesday to approve construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, wielding his veto power for only the third time in his presidency.</p>
<p>Obama offered no indication of whether he'll eventually issue a permit for the pipeline, whose construction has become a flashpoint in the U.S. debate about environmental policy and climate change. Instead, Obama sought to reassert his authority to make the decision himself, rebuffing GOP lawmakers who will control both the House and Senate for the remainder of the president's term.</p>
<p>"The presidential power to veto legislation is one I take seriously," Obama said in a brief notice delivered to the Senate. "But I also take seriously my responsibility to the American people."</p>
<p>Obama vetoed the bill in private with no fanfare, in contrast to the televised ceremony Republican leaders staged earlier this month when they signed the bill and sent it to the president. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Republicans were "not even close" to giving up the fight and derided the veto as a "national embarrassment."</p>
<p>The move sends the politically charged issue back to Congress, where Republicans haven't shown they can muster the two-thirds majority in both chambers needed to override Obama's veto. North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven, the bill's chief GOP sponsor, said Republicans are about four votes short in the Senate and need about 11 more in the House.</p>
<p>Although the veto is Obama's first since Republicans took control on Capitol Hill, it was not likely to be the last. GOP lawmakers are lining up legislation rolling back Obama's actions on health care, immigration and financial regulation that Obama has promised to similarly reject.</p>
<p>"He's looking at this as showing he still can be king of the hill, because we don't have the votes to override," Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, a vocal opponent of Obama's climate change agenda, said in an interview. "If he vetoed this, he's going to veto many others that are out there."</p>
<p>First proposed more than six years ago, the Keystone XL pipeline project has sat in limbo ever since, awaiting a permit required by the federal government because it would cross an international boundary. The pipeline would connect Canada's tar sands with refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast that specialize in processing heavy crude oil.</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Republicans and the energy industry say the $8 billion project would create jobs, spur growth and increase America's independence from Mideast energy sources. Democrats and environmental groups have sought to make the pipeline a poster child for the type of dirty energy sources they say are exacerbating global warming.</span></p>
<p>For his part, Obama says his administration is still weighing the pipeline's merits, and he has repeatedly threatened to veto any attempts by lawmakers to make the decision for him.</p>
<p>Environmental groups said they were confident Obama's veto was a prelude to a full rejection of the pipeline. But TransCanada, the company proposing the pipeline, said it "remains fully committed" to building. And the Canadian government said it was not a matter of if, but when.</p>
<p>The GOP-controlled House passed the bill earlier in February on a 270-152 vote, following weeks of debate and tweaks in the Senate to insert language stating that climate change is real and not a hoax. Republican leaders in Congress delayed sending the bill to the White House until they returned from a weeklong recess, ensuring they would be on hand to denounce the president when he vetoed the bill.</p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/518c19d56bb3f79b1f00000a-1200-858/ap12060612858.jpg" border="0" alt="John Boehner Mitch McConnell smile"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The veto forced Republicans, still reveling in their dramatic gains in the midterm elections, to confront the limitations of being unable to turn their ideas into law without the president's consent - despite the fact they now control both chambers of Congress.</span></p>
<p>Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the Senate would start the process to try to override Obama's veto by March 3. Republicans were also considering inserting Keystone into other critical legislation dealing with energy, spending or infrastructure that Obama would be less likely to veto, said Hoeven.</p>
<p>Obama last wielded his veto power in October 2010, nixing a relatively mundane bill dealing with recognition of documents notarized out of state. With the Keystone bill, Obama's veto count stands at just three - far fewer than most of his predecessors. Yet his veto threats have been piling up rapidly since Republicans took full control of Congress, numbering more than a dozen so far this year.</p>
<p>The president has said he won't approve Keystone if it's found to significantly increase U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas blamed for global warming. A State Department analysis found that the tar sands would be developed one way or another, meaning construction of the pipeline wouldn't necessarily affect emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency earlier this month called for that analysis to be revisited, arguing that a drop in oil prices may have altered the equation.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-vetoes-keystone-xl-pipeline-bill-2015-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-headphones-tricks-2015-2">14 things you didn't know your iPhone headphones could do</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/the-oil-crash-is-making-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-irrelevant-2015-1The Oil Crash Is Making The Keystone XL Pipeline Irrelevanthttp://www.businessinsider.com/the-oil-crash-is-making-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-irrelevant-2015-1
Fri, 16 Jan 2015 13:01:17 -0500Andrew Topf
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/547f2ad96bb3f7287aa0d999-1200-858/rtr4efwe.jpg" border="0" alt="keystone xl"></p><p>On Monday the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/Keystone+Pipeline" target="_self" title="Title: Keystone Pipeline" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow">Keystone XL pipeline</a>&nbsp;project crossed another hurdle when legislation approving construction of the proposed line to connect Canadian oil sands crude with&nbsp;<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/Gulf+Coast" target="_self" title="Title: Gulf Coast" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow">Gulf Coast</a>&nbsp;refineries was passed by the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/U.S.+Senate" target="_self" title="Title: U.S. Senate" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow">United States Senate</a>.</p>
<p>The bill sailed through 63 votes to 32 in the Senate, which is now in the hands of the Republicans following November mid-term elections, along with the House of Representatives, which passed the same Keystone legislation last week.</p>
<p>With the bill well on its way to becoming law, it will up to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/Barack+Obama" target="_self" title="Title: Barack Obama" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow">President Obama</a>&nbsp;to decide on whether or not to veto it, a decision he has held off for six years. Obama has criticized the project as adding to greenhouse gas emissions, despite an environmental assessment to the contrary by the<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/U.S.+Department+of+State" target="_self" title="Title: U.S. Department of State" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow">State Department</a>&nbsp;released a year ago, and because he argues it would help Canadian producers to deliver crude for export, against the claims of the proponent,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/TransCanada+Corporation" target="_self" title="Title: TransCanada Corporation" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow">TransCanada Corp</a>, which maintains the oil will be processed in US refineries and consumed domestically.</p>
<p>While the political machinations of Keystone, with all the horse trading it inevitably entails, certainly make for some excellent headlines, an equally pressing question is whether the project is even viable with today's oil prices, which dropped further on Monday to below $46 a barrel in North America.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">The rationale for Keystone was a way to bring together booming US oil production, and to a lesser extent, production from the oil sands in Northern Alberta, to Gulf Coast refineries that were facing declining imports from Mexico and Venezuela. The project was first proposed in 2008 and was supposed to begin carrying 830,000 barrels a day in 2012.</span></p>
<p>But the market didn't wait for the pipeline to be built, and landlocked Canadian crude has found its way to Texas and Louisiana refineries by rail instead. Canadian oil exports by rail tripled to a record 182,000 barrels a day in the third quarter, according to Canada's National Energy Board. The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/United+States" target="_self" title="Title: United States" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow">United States</a>&nbsp;has also been importing Canadian oil like gangbusters, showing that the trade will happen with or without the pipeline extension (Keystone XL is an addition to the existing pipeline). Data from the US Energy Department showed US imports of Canadian crude reached a record 3.1 million barrels a day in September.</p>
<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/546c94f869bedd904152ca22-1200-1128/cd-49.jpg" border="0" alt="transcanada keystone oil pipeline"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">So with some of the project's goals already being met, in terms of increased production flowing from&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/Canada" target="_self" title="Title: Canada" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow">Canada</a><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">&nbsp;to the US, the question has become, why is a pipeline needed anymore? And now, with the oil price down more than 50 percent since June, Canadian production is certain to fall, lessening demand for oil transportation and thus casting doubt on the economics of the project according to observers.</span></p>
<p>“Right now with oil prices down and a glut of oil on the global marketplace, the answer is no, we don’t need Keystone right now,” Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at the Price Futures Group in Chicago,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2015/01/07/3430642_congress-ready-to-pass-keystone.html?rh=1" target="_self">told</a>&nbsp;a reporter from the San Luis Obispo Tribune last week.</p>
<p>Some are predicting low oil prices could delay the project even if Obama passes it, or it could be shelved altogether.</p>
<p>Chris Lafakis, an energy economist for Moody's Analytics,&nbsp;<a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/economics-no-longer-makes-keystone-153213747.html" target="_self">equated</a>&nbsp;the situation with Keystone to an earlier proposal to build a natural-gas pipeline from Alaska to the Midwest. Despite being approved by then-<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/Sarah+Palin" target="_self" title="Title: Sarah Palin" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow">Governor Sarah Palin</a>, the pipeline was never built due to new gas supplies which pushed prices down by two-thirds. "If oil were to stay as cheap as it is right now, you might very well get that Palin pipeline scenario," Lafakis said.</p>
<p>Ironically, the low oil price could also be used as a justification by Obama to cancel Keystone, according to a low-price scenario envisioned by the State Department when it made the determination that constructing the pipeline wouldn't increase GHG emissions.</p>
<p>As&nbsp;<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/drop-in-oil-prices-could-give-obama-an-excuse-to-reject-keystone-xl/article22406025/" target="_self">reported by the Globe and Mail</a>, in its analysis the State Department concluded that with prices above $90 a barrel, approval of the pipeline wouldn't affect oil sands production because the oil would find its way to market anyway through more expensive means i.e. rail.</p>
<p>However with a lower oil price, the State Department concluded that the project would be more attractive to producers (about $8 per barrel less than by rail), leading them to boost production and thus increase emissions:</p>
<p>“Oil sands production is expected to be most sensitive to increased transport costs in a range of prices around $65 to $75 per barrel,” it said. “Assuming prices fell in this range, higher transportation costs could have a substantial impact on oil sands production levels … Prices below this range would challenge the supply costs of many projects, regardless of pipeline constraints, but higher transport costs could further curtail production.”</p>
<p>For its part, the company behind the pipeline, TransCanada, refuses to yield on its rationale for the pipeline. CEO Russ Girling told the Globe and Mail that lower crude prices make the project more attractive to producers both in Canada and the US, who are looking for the most cost-effective way to transport oil to refineries.</p>
<p>Further, Girling pointed out that low prices haven't reduced the need for the pipeline either. “On the contrary, TransCanada has 100 per cent of its original contracts still in place and producers are keen to reduce their transportation costs in order to increase per-barrel revenue, or netback,” the Globe reported on Sunday.</p>
<p>It would certainly be ironic if after six years of delay, rhetoric and political maneuvering, what really kills Keystone XL is the oil price, not Obama nor the environmental movement that has lobbied so hard against the project.</p>
<p>Whether or not the pipeline is passed by the White House, it appears that the economics of Keystone XL are just as muddy as its politics.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-oil-crash-is-making-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-irrelevant-2015-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-could-use-keystone-to-strike-a-big-environmental-deal-2015-1Obama Could Use Keystone To Strike A Big Environmental Deal http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-could-use-keystone-to-strike-a-big-environmental-deal-2015-1
Tue, 13 Jan 2015 16:29:36 -0500Jared Gilmour
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/51f80c79ecad046e25000013-1200-924/rtx1255i.jpg" border="0" alt="Barack Obama Keystone XL speech"></p><p>There’s one place where&nbsp;<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/Keystone+Pipeline" target="_self" title="Title: Keystone Pipeline" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow">Keystone XL</a>&nbsp;supporters and opponents seem to agree: It’s time for&nbsp;<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/Barack+Obama" target="_self" title="Title: Barack Obama" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow">President Obama</a>&nbsp;to decide on the country’s most famous (or infamous) energy infrastructure proposal.</p>
<p>Backers and detractors alike have called for the administration to approve or reject the oil sands project throughout its six years of delays, but now pressure on the White House is mounting. A recent decision by the Nebraska Supreme Court puts the ball largely in the president’s court, and a newly-minted Republican Congress is eager to take matters into its own hands.</p>
<p>The GOP-controlled Senate began debate on its Keystone XL approval bill Monday, even though Obama has already promised to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2015/0106/Is-cheap-oil-behind-Obama-s-promise-to-veto-Keystone-XL-bill-video" target="_self"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">veto</span></a>&nbsp;the legislation so his administration can continue deliberation. Technically, the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/U.S.+Department+of+State" target="_self" title="Title: U.S. Department of State" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow">State Department</a>&nbsp;must issue a statement declaring whether or not the pipeline would serve the national interest, but analysts say Obama can make a decision whenever he wants. The Senate has the votes to pass its Keystone XL bill in coming weeks, meaning Obama is the only roadblock for pipeline backers. And it seems everyone is urging Obama to make a decision – from pro-industry supporters, to anti-Keystone environmentalists.</p>
<p>The Senate’s action, which aims to force Obama’s hand, comes after&nbsp;<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2015/0109/Keystone-XL-takes-two-steps-closer-to-Obama-s-desk-video" target="_self"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">the controversial pipeline moved two steps closer to approval</span></a>&nbsp;last week. The House passed its own bill approving the project, and the Nebraska Supreme Court threw out a lawsuit challenging its route through the state.</p>
<p>“It's time for the president to put an end to this damn thing,”&nbsp;<a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/keystone-xl-landowner-lawsuit-tossed-145035588.html" target="_self"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">said</span></a>&nbsp;Randy Thompson, a Nebraska landowner and lead plaintiff in the court case against Keystone XL.</p>
<p>President Obama has said he will only approve the pipeline if he finds that it will not “significantly exacerbate” climate change caused by carbon emissions from fossil fuels. The 1,179-mile pipeline would carry 830,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta, North Dakota, and Montana to Texas Gulf Coast refineries. Because the route crosses the US-Canada border, it requires State Department approval.</p>
<p>But some&nbsp;<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Energy-Voices/2014/0812/Keystone-XL-first-on-a-Republican-Senate-s-to-do-list" target="_self"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">experts have said Keystone XL’s impact on the climate would be a drop in the bucket in the context of global emissions</span></a>. With that in mind, it’s possible Obama could use Keystone XL as a bargaining chip with Republicans – either to advance his carbon-cutting climate agenda elsewhere, or on some other compromise with the new, GOP-led Congress.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-could-use-keystone-to-strike-a-big-environmental-deal-2015-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-vows-to-veto-keystone-pipeline-bill-2015-1White House Vows To Veto Keystone Pipeline Billhttp://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-vows-to-veto-keystone-pipeline-bill-2015-1
Tue, 06 Jan 2015 13:39:00 -0500Colin Campbell
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/54ac287feab8eae210cf6c1d-600-/transcanada-keystone-oil-pipeline-4.png" border="0" alt="transcanada keystone oil pipeline" width="600"></p><p>The White House revealed on Tuesday that President Barack Obama would veto congressional legislation to create the Keystone XL Pipeline.</p>
<p>"I can confirm for you that if this bill passes this Congress, the president wouldn't sign it," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/watch/nbc-news/white-house-obama-likely-to-veto-keystone-pipeline-380636739765">told reporters</a> during his daily media briefing.</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Republicans took full control of Congress this week and vowed to make the legislation a priority.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"The first item up in the new Senate will be the Keystone XL pipeline," <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/16/keystone-pipeline_n_6336576.html">promised</a> new Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The Keystone bill previously failed in a high-profile showdown at the end of last year. Although a number of Democrats supported the bill, it did not achieve enough votes to overcome a filibuster.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Obama, a longtime critic of the pipeline, has repeatedly dismissed the argument that the Keystone project will create jobs. At <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/12/19/obama-says-keystone-pipeline-helps-canadian-oil-companies-at-expense-americans/">a December press conference</a>, Obama said the pipeline would mostly benefit Canadian oil companies, and was not "</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">a magic formula to what ails the US economy."</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Environmental advocates immediately cheered the White House's announcement.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"This is a tribute to the millions of people who have made this one of the center pieces of a fast growing climate movement," said Bill McKibben, the founder of 350.org, which has passionately opposed the pipeline. "So far their desire to protect the land and climate have been a match for the fountains of dirty money that constitute the oil industry’s only real argument."</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p>
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<p><strong> </strong></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-vows-to-veto-keystone-pipeline-bill-2015-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/r-senate-panel-plans-to-introduce-keystone-xl-bill-next-week-2015-1The Keystone XL Pipeline Isn't Dead Yethttp://www.businessinsider.com/r-senate-panel-plans-to-introduce-keystone-xl-bill-next-week-2015-1
Fri, 02 Jan 2015 15:12:00 -0500Timothy Gardner
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/54a6fb2a6da811301d8b4569-1200-924/keystone-xl-4.jpg" border="0" alt="keystone xl">WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the Senate energy committee plans to introduce a bill next week to force approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, though the full chamber faces a battle in obtaining needed votes to overcome any veto by President Barack Obama.</span></p>
<p>Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican and the new head of the energy committee, will introduce the bill next week after a hearing on TransCanada Corp's $8 billion project, her spokesman said.</p>
<p>"I mean in a matter of hours, or days," the energy committee will mark up the bill after the hearing on Wednesday and move it to the senate floor, spokesman Robert Dillon said.</p>
<p>A similar bill died in November, falling one vote short of the necessary 60 votes for the project that would bring some 800,000 barrels per day of Canada's oil sands petroleum to Nebraska en route to Gulf Coast refineries.</p>
<p>That measure was sponsored by senators Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat, who lost in a runoff vote last month, and John Hoeven, a North Dakota Republican.</p>
<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/546c94f869bedd904152ca22-1200-1128/cd-49.jpg" border="0" alt="transcanada keystone oil pipeline">Keystone supporters say they picked up votes for the project in November's midterm elections, including Republicans Shelley Moore Capito, from West Virginia, and Joni Ernst, from Iowa. Still, supporters likely lack the 67 votes needed to overcome any presidential veto.</p>
<p>At the senate energy panel hearing on Wednesday, the lawmakers will hear testimony from Keystone supporters from labor and industry and from a critic at the Center for American Progress think tank.</p>
<p>The path of the pipeline is being held up by a legal decision in Nebraska, where the state's top court is expected to rule early this year.</p>
<p>The pipeline has been pending for six years and the State Department is deciding whether the project is in the country's interest. Obama has said he will not approve the pipeline if it leads to a substantial increase in emissions linked to climate change. He has also said the project would do little to lower gasoline prices for U.S. consumers.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>(Editing by Matthew Lewis)</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-senate-panel-plans-to-introduce-keystone-xl-bill-next-week-2015-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/the-keystone-xl-pipeline-project-is-almost-certainly-dead-2014-12The Keystone XL Pipeline Project Is Almost Certainly Deadhttp://www.businessinsider.com/the-keystone-xl-pipeline-project-is-almost-certainly-dead-2014-12
Wed, 03 Dec 2014 10:36:11 -0500Suzanne McGee
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/547f2a336da811b347ee8f7f-600-384/barack-obama-thumbs-up-11.jpg" border="0" alt="barack obama thumbs up"></p><p>The Keystone XL Pipeline project is almost certainly dead.</p>
<p>No, not because a bill that would have finally given the go-ahead to begin construction fell one vote short in the lame duck Senate last month. Sure, that halted the legislative approval process in its tracks, but only until January, when a new Congress arrives and is sworn in.</p>
<p>Republicans, who will have a majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, have pledged to bring it back for another vote in the next session.</p>
<p>The next vote may well bring a different result, but will the pipeline ever be built? That is something else altogether.</p>
<p>A lot has changed since TransCanada Pipelines first proposed building the nearly 1,200 mile-long extension to its existing pipeline network delivering Canadian crude oil to refineries in the Gulf Coast of Texas. The oil in question would come from the so-called oil sands projects in northern Alberta, ventures that high oil prices have made economically viable.</p>
<p>The explosion in the oil sands developments has transformed Alberta’s Fort McMurray into “Fort McMoney,” a boom town where houses and salaries can be higher than those in Canada’s largest city, Toronto — and where&nbsp;<a href="http://www.economist.com/node/9410672">crime rates and drug usage rates</a>&nbsp;are higher, too.</p>
<p><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/547f2b2f6bb3f77e75a0d9a2-1200-800/rtr4e84j.jpg" border="0" alt="keystone xl"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">The extensive delays — prompted by the requirement that the U.S. government sign off on the project, since it crosses an international border, and the fierce battle waged by environmentalists to stop that from happening — have driven up the project’s costs. TransCanada says building the Keystone link across Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-04/transcanada-says-keystone-xl-project-costs-rise-to-8-billion.html">would now cost some $8 billion</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">, up from the originally estimated $5.4 billion, with shippers covering much of the additional charges.</span></p>
<p>Meanwhile, oil prices are plunging, with Saudi Arabia clearly taking aim directly at Canada’s oil sands projects as one of the chief threats to its global market dominance. The so-called sour crude that the Saudis are selling to the U.S., doesn’t compete head-to-head with the light, sweet crude oil produced in Texas and Oklahoma.</p>
<p>Rather, Saudi Arabia has taken aim at making Canadian oil sands output too costly in the American marketplace. That’s why Saudi Arabia has&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ammoland.com/2014/12/saudi-arabia-versus-the-keystone-pipeline/#axzz3Kh0GCCnS">initiated a price war</a>, slashing prices to the U.S. and pressing OPEC to keep production at its current levels.</p>
<p>To the extent that shippers now would have to cover higher pipeline construction costs as well, that is going to make the Keystone project an increasingly unattractive venture from a purely economic perspective. Alberta oil sands producers — already operating&nbsp;<a href="http://business.financialpost.com/2014/11/28/alberta-big-oil-to-feel-the-squeeze-as-worlds-cheapest-oil-gets-cheaper/?__lsa=e5bd-99a0">the world’s costliest wells</a>&nbsp;— are bracing themselves for a drop in cash flow and earnings and may be preparing to cut their capital spending plans.</p>
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/547f2ca36bb3f71477a0d9a5-1200-800/rtr3g1mf.jpg" border="0" alt="russ girling"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Then there are the political considerations. The environmentalists aren’t simply going to fold up their tents and go home if Congress does approve the pipeline (and overturns a likely presidential veto). There could still be a constitutional challenge, too. It would be a real test of whether the issue is one of foreign policy, and thus up to the administration, or foreign commerce, and thus&nbsp;</span><a href="http://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42124.pdf">appropriate for Congress</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">&nbsp;to approve.</span></p>
<p>But the federal government isn’t the last stop, either. Nebraska, in particular, has seen a tug of war over who has the right to give out the required approvals — the state governor or the state’s Public Service Commission. Anyone who assumes that all the approvals are in the bag is probably indulging in some very wishful thinking.</p>
<p>Canadian rocker Neil Young may&nbsp;<a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/11/10/pipeline_issues_are_scabs_on_our_lives_rocker_neil_young_says.html">whip up outrage</a>&nbsp;about the pipeline, but what matters more is that landowners on the American side of the border — who vote those local politicians into office — still have anxieties about the project.</p>
<p>Among these are indigenous communities like the Rosebud Sioux of South Dakota, who have declared that they will view the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline as&nbsp;<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/16/rosebud-sioux-keystone-war_n_6168584.html">an “act of war.”</a>&nbsp;“We will close our reservation borders” to the project, the tribe’s president declared. Who really wants to go revisit&nbsp;<em>that&nbsp;</em>kind of conflict?</p>
<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/547f2ad96bb3f7287aa0d999-1200-858/rtr4efwe.jpg" border="0" alt="keystone xl"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Then, too, there is the fact that the United States probably doesn’t need the oil, anyway. The shale oil production revolution has made the project less vital, and each year that passes without the pipeline being built makes it less likely that it will go forward, as the U.S. is able to more readily meet its refinery needs with domestic crude oil, produced and transported at a lower cost. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">True, it isn’t free of controversy (fracking, anyone?) but even with the latest plunge in crude oil prices in the wake of last week’s OPEC meeting,&nbsp;</span><a href="http://online.wsj.com/articles/despite-glut-u-s-firms-arent-likely-to-slash-oil-output-1417397138">few plan to rein in their production</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">.</span></p>
<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/546c94f869bedd904152ca22-1200-1128/cd-49.jpg" border="0" alt="transcanada keystone oil pipeline">The real question is how long those producers can continue to keep operating at a loss. For now, at least some will keep going, perhaps because they have sold forward their production at higher prices, or because they believe that in the giant game of chicken underway, the Saudis — with their aging wells and their need to enforce compliance among OPEC members — will give way first. Regardless, those domestic producers are still going to have a relative cost advantage over the far more expensive Canadian output.</p>
<p>Put all that together, and it’s a good bet that Keystone XL won’t be built, but other pipelines will. They will link the new domestic shale oil and gas reserves with refineries, which will continue to operate. Canada’s oil sands projects will continue to operate, and will continue to generate emissions.&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Some of the output will flow to U.S. markets through the existing Keystone pipeline; some will be shipped via rail (itself a far from environmentally benign solution), and some will be transported domestically in Canada. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">In the short term, lower oil prices mean that less is likely to be produced and transported, but the demise of Keystone XL isn’t going to have a dramatic impact on climate change — unfortunately enough.</span></p>
<p>Undoubtedly, a group of folks will clamor to claim credit for Keystone XL’s defeat — whenever and however that becomes clear — but the reality is that it will be due to something fairly banal and yet inescapable: market forces.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-keystone-xl-pipeline-project-is-almost-certainly-dead-2014-12#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/r-could-obama-cut-deal-on-keystone-pipeline-dont-rule-it-out-2014-11The Keystone Pipeline Isn't Dead Yethttp://www.businessinsider.com/r-could-obama-cut-deal-on-keystone-pipeline-dont-rule-it-out-2014-11
Wed, 19 Nov 2014 03:36:00 -0500Steve Holland and Roberta Rampton
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/546c5678eab8ea955940a948-692-519/a-depot-used-to-store-pipes-for-transcanada-corps-planned-keystone-xl-oil-pipeline-is-seen-in-gascoyne-north-dakota-november-14-2014-reutersandrew-cullen.jpg" border="0" alt="A depot used to store pipes for Transcanada Corp's planned Keystone XL oil pipeline is seen in Gascoyne, North Dakota November 14, 2014. REUTERS/Andrew Cullen "></p><p></p>
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama might be open to using the Keystone pipeline as leverage with Republicans if they cooperate on other aspects of his long-stalled domestic agenda, such as investing in infrastructure, closing tax loopholes or reducing carbon emissions.</p>
<p>After years of fighting over TransCanada's &lt;trp.to&gt; crude oil pipeline from Canada, a Keystone deal is not entirely out of the question, sources inside the administration and others close to the White House told Reuters on Tuesday.</p>
<p>With the Senate's narrow defeat of a Keystone bill on Tuesday, Obama avoided the awkward position of possibly vetoing a bill supported by members of his own Democratic party. But the issue will come up again soon after the new year when Republicans, who already control the House of Representatives, take charge of the Senate as well.</p>
<p>Any deal would have to yield concrete gains for Obama on his agenda. Obama also likely would insist on making an executive decision on the $8 billion pipeline from Canada, rather than letting Congress approve the permit, sources said.</p>
<p>"Whatever the president decides, I expect it will be driven by the bottom line on carbon pollution, not by symbolism," one former administration official told Reuters.</p>
<p>Obama wants to make headway on slowing climate change during his last two years in office, but he has made it clear that new rules to curb carbon emissions from power plants and a global agreement on climate change are far more meaningful in the big picture than the fate of the pipeline.</p>
<p>Sources close to the White House say Obama believes that both pipeline opponents and proponents have exaggerated the significance of their claims about the pipeline, turning it into a political symbol.</p>
<p>But Republicans have vowed to take another run at forcing approval early in 2015. Assuming support from at least a handful of Democrats, Republicans likely would have enough votes to pass it but not enough to override a veto.</p>
<p>Republicans could try to attach the measure to a government funding measure to make Obama's veto decision more difficult.</p>
<p>A compromise would give Republicans a win on Keystone, a politically popular issue. But the White House would need to extract a win, too.</p>
<p>Timing could be a hurdle to any potential deal. Obama has said he will wait for the Supreme Court of Nebraska to rule on a pipeline challenge from landowners in that state, a decision expected sometime between Friday and January.</p>
<p>If the court sides with the landowners, the Keystone route would need to be approved by the state's Public Service Commission - a process that could take most of 2015.</p>
<p>Obama has said he will approve the project if it does not hike carbon emissions, a standard cheered by green groups.</p>
<p>"Ultimately, we believe that the Keystone pipeline would significantly exacerbate climate pollution, and therefore would flunk his test for approval," said Dan Weiss, senior vice president for campaigns at the League of Conservation Voters.</p>
<p>But a State Department review found that blocking the pipeline would not stop Canada from developing its oil sands. Canada and the oil industry took that as a sign Obama could ultimately approve the pipeline.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>(Additional reporting by Valerie Volcovici, Timothy Gardner and Amanda Becker; Editing by Ken Wills)</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-could-obama-cut-deal-on-keystone-pipeline-dont-rule-it-out-2014-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/r-keystone-in-doubt-in-senate-after-obama-comments-2014-11Will Obama Kill The Keystone Pipeline?http://www.businessinsider.com/r-keystone-in-doubt-in-senate-after-obama-comments-2014-11
Mon, 17 Nov 2014 14:27:00 -0500Timothy Gardner
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5444f05beab8eadd0810fec5-600-/ap989394350316-1.jpg" alt="AP989394350316" border="0" width="600"></p><p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Supporters of the Keystone XL pipeline in the U.S. Senate on Monday scrambled to gather votes to pass a bill that authorizes the project to help send Canadian oil to the U.S. Gulf, a task made harder after President Barack Obama made his toughest comments yet about the duct.</p>
<p>With her chamber stuck at 59 votes for Keystone XL, Senator Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat, worked hard to gather one last vote needed to pass a bill that the House of Representatives easily approved on Friday. The Senate is expected to vote as early as 6:15 p.m. EST (2315 GMT) on Tuesday on TransCanada Corp's project that would transport more than 800,000 barrels per day of oil.</p>
<p>"She is going to continue to work every day to get the votes she needs to pass the bill on Tuesday," an aide to Landrieu said on Monday.</p>
<p>Republicans including Senator John Hoeven, from North Dakota, also called Democrats on Monday. All 45 Republicans support the pipeline, so they need 15 Democrats. Several Democrats whom they thought they could win said last week they will vote "no."</p>
<p>Obama criticized the project during a trip to Asia late last week, saying it would not lower fuel prices for drivers, but would allow Canada to “pump their oil, send it through our land, down to the Gulf, where it will be sold everywhere else."&nbsp;</p>
<p>Republicans and energy analysts said those comments likely meant Obama was leaning toward vetoing any Senate Keystone bill that passes, either this year or early next year.</p>
<p>"The President ... is basically threatening a veto this time," said Ryan Bernstein, an aide to Hoeven, who is sponsoring the bill with Landrieu.&nbsp;"Obviously, this makes it harder to gather votes because he is sending a signal to Democrats on which way he thinks they should vote."</p>
<p>Many environmentalists oppose Keystone, saying it would spike emissions linked to climate change and that the oil could be sold abroad. Construction workers and other supporters say it would create thousands of jobs.</p>
<p>Hoeven plans to reintroduce the bill in January or February if it does not pass on Tuesday. Supporters could introduce a standalone bill or attach Keystone language to another bill that would be hard for Obama to veto.</p>
<p>Republicans say they will have 60 votes next year after the party's strong showing in this month's U.S. midterm elections which will give them new senators including Joni Ernst of Iowa, Cory Gardner of Colorado and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>(Editing by Matthew Lewis)</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-keystone-in-doubt-in-senate-after-obama-comments-2014-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-has-several-big-confrontations-in-front-of-him-2014-11Obama Has Several Big Confrontations In Front Of Himhttp://www.businessinsider.com/obama-has-several-big-confrontations-in-front-of-him-2014-11
Mon, 17 Nov 2014 06:31:22 -0500Julie Pace
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5469dbdd6bb3f7041df52cf6-1200-924/obama-411.jpg" border="0" alt="obama"></p><p>WASHINGTON (AP) — After a productive trip abroad, President Barack Obama is back in Washington, where he faces confrontations with Republicans on immigration and an oil pipeline project.</p>
<p>The contentious immigration debate could mean a year-end fight over keeping the government running, if some GOP lawmakers get their way.</p>
<p>On the foreign policy front, there is a Nov. 24 deadline in nuclear negotiations with Iran, and questions are surfacing within the administration about whether to overhaul U.S. policy toward Syria.</p>
<p>Given his faltering political support in the U.S. and his party's recent election losses, Obama's trip to China, Myanmar and Australia appeared to offer respite.</p>
<p>The president, who returned to the White House late Sunday, basked in policy breakthroughs with China and warm welcomes in Myanmar and Australia.</p>
<p>"I intend to build on that momentum when I return home," Obama said at a news conference before heading home.</p>
<p>When Obama set off for the Asia-Pacific, both the White House and Republicans were suggesting that the GOP's decisive takeover of the Senate could pave the way for bipartisan breakthroughs. But just two weeks after the election, that optimism largely has faded, making it increasingly likely that Washington will churn through two more years of gridlock.</p>
<p>Republicans attribute the swift shift in tone largely to Obama's plans to move forward with executive actions on immigration that potentially could shield from deportation about 5 million immigrants who are living in the United States illegally. The president has pledged to announce the measures before year's end; he could act shortly after returning to Washington.</p>
<p>The incoming Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has warned that such executive actions would "poison the well" with the new Republican-led Senate and could prevent the GOP from working with Obama on other potential areas of agreement.</p>
<p>Republican leaders are considering what to do if Obama presses ahead. More conservative members want to use upcoming spending bills to block the president, but that could set the stage for a showdown for another government shutdown.</p>
<p>Obama said that possible threat would not dictate his timing in flexing his powers. He said his main concern "is getting it right."</p>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5114010869bedd157100000c-590-676/keystone 3.png" border="0" alt="transcanada keystone xl pipeline map">The fight over the Keystone XL pipeline that would run from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast also has political implications for the president, not just with Republicans but also his own Democratic Party.</p>
<p>Democrats see passage of a bill forcing construction of the project as a last-ditch effort to save Sen. Mary Landrieu, who faces a runoff election next month against GOP Rep. Bill Cassidy in oil-producing Louisiana.</p>
<p>The House passed a measure to move the project forward on Friday, and the Senate is set to act. But Obama has all but threatened a veto, repeatedly saying the only way the pipeline can be approved is after the completion of a long-stalled State Department review.</p>
<p>"We have to let the process play out," he said.</p>
<p>On Iran, Obama faces a deadline to reach a final agreement in sensitive nuclear negotiations. High-level talks in Oman last week failed to yield a breakthrough, potentially setting Obama up for a choice between pursuing another extension or abandoning the diplomatic effort.</p>
<p>The president has asked the Congress to start debating a new authorization for his airstrike campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, though he expects the legislative effort to pick up next year when Republicans take control of the Senate. The debate comes as Obama faces questions from within his own administration, including from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, about the effectiveness of the military operation, particularly in Syria.</p>
<p>Hagel said in a memo to White House national security adviser Susan Rice that Obama needed a clearer strategy for dealing with embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad.</p>
<p>White House officials have denied that Obama is undertaking any formal review of his Syria strategy and the president said Sunday that he was not considering ways to oust Assad.</p>
<p>Also on the agenda: getting the Senate to confirm his nominee for attorney general, federal prosecutor Loretta Lynch. The White House is not pushing for that in the postelection session of Congress, and says the president is leaving the timing up to Senate leadership.</p>
<p>Democrats are reluctant to push a fight with an empowered GOP over the process and White House officials say they are confident Lynch will be confirmed even with Republicans in control. The GOP takes over in January.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writer Nedra Pickler contributed to this report.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC</p>
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<p>Copyright (2014) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.</p>
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<p><img class="nc_pixel" src="https://pixel.newscred.com/px.gif?key=YXJ0aWNsZT00YTU2ZjdiOGZlMGVmZDdiMjc1MWUxYTRmOWE1NDg0ZSZwdWJsaXNoZXI9NzMwZWI4NmFiNTlmMGQ0MTkyNmFjNjViMDFmODNlMmY=" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1"></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-has-several-big-confrontations-in-front-of-him-2014-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/louis-helbig-aerial-photos-alberta-tar-sands-2014-9Aerial Photos Show The True Magnitude Of The Tar Sands Developmentshttp://www.businessinsider.com/louis-helbig-aerial-photos-alberta-tar-sands-2014-9
Fri, 26 Sep 2014 12:57:00 -0400Christian Storm
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/542579f36bb3f75d28d306e1-1200-800/_black_and_white_oil_and_sand_b2400486_nx_c1_flt_c2_flt_8bit_original.jpeg" border="0" alt="tar sands"></p><p>The Athabasca Oil Sands in Alberta, Canada are the largest known resource for crude bitumen in the world. Retrieving that oil from the earth is a major undertaking, one that requires massive amounts of machinery, facilities, and man power. But the results also produce a massive amount of profit for those involved.</p>
<p>While its presence has been known since the early 1700's, it was only in the last decade or so that production and development has picked up on a large scale, thrusting the Tar Sands into the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/15-frightening-facts-about-canadas-booming-tar-pits-from-hell-2010-7">national spotlight</a>. Folks from all over Canada and North America are flocking to Fort McMurray, the epicenter of expansion, for the promise of high paying jobs.</p>
<p>With an estimated 133 billion barrels still available, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/08/canada-alberta-reserves-idUSL2N0DP2HI20130508">things don't look like they'll slow down any time soon</a>. Though that's a tough sell for environmentalists who worry about the devastation these oil sands are wreaking on the natural environment.</p>
<p>Artist and aerial photographer, <a href="http://www.louishelbig.com/">Louis Helbig</a>, has been photographing the Athabasaca region from above for seven years and has seen firsthand just how colossal an operation extracting and refining the Tar Sands is. He also has seen how beautiful a place it can be.</p>
<p>"It's an unbelievable sight," he tells Business Insider.</p>
<p>Helbig has compiled his work into a new book, titled "<a href="http://www.beautifuldestruction.ca/">Beautiful Destruction</a>," which will be out later this year. He also currently has a <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1390005755/beautiful-destruction-alberta-oil-tar-sands-photo">Kicksoilter campaign</a> going, and it's proven to be one of the most successful projects in the history of the site.</p><h3>Helbig started the project in 2007, when, he says, the expansion was not yet world news. It was, however, the topic of many conversations in Alberta, especially among those who wanted to head to the Oil Sands to find work.</h3>
<img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/542464636da811513f0a4129-400-300/helbig-started-the-project-in-2007-when-he-says-the-expansion-was-not-yet-world-news-it-was-however-the-topic-of-many-conversations-in-alberta-especially-among-those-who-wanted-to-head-to-the-oil-sands-to-find-work.jpg" alt="" />
<br/><br/><h3>Helbig, looking to see what all the buzz was about, decided to visit. "I thought I would go up there and do some aerial photography and see what was hidden in plain sight," he recently told Business Insider.</h3>
<img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/542474c5ecad042a3a6e314b-400-300/helbig-looking-to-see-what-all-the-buzz-was-about-decided-to-visit-i-thought-i-would-go-up-there-and-do-some-aerial-photography-and-see-what-was-hidden-in-plain-sight-he-recently-told-business-insider.jpg" alt="" />
<br/><br/><h3>When he first flew over the Tar Sands with his now wife, Kristin Reimer, the sheer magnitude of what he saw amazed them. </h3>
<img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/542475066bb3f70a519d91d3-400-300/when-he-first-flew-over-the-tar-sands-with-his-now-wife-kristin-reimer-the-sheer-magnitude-of-what-he-saw-amazed-them.jpg" alt="" />
<br/><br/><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/louis-helbig-aerial-photos-alberta-tar-sands-2014-9#all-the-operations-the-open-pit-mining-the-large-oily-tailing-ponds-the-refineries-the-whole-thing-situated-somewhat-incongruously-in-the-boreal-forest-is-stunning-he-explains-4">See the rest of the story at Business Insider</a> http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-billionaire-green-activist-shifts-from-bomb-thrower-to-team-player-2014-08Meet The Billionaire Environmental Activist Who Is Taking On The Koch Brothershttp://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-billionaire-green-activist-shifts-from-bomb-thrower-to-team-player-2014-08
Thu, 08 May 2014 09:48:00 -0400By Andy Sullivan
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/536b8a7aecad04232833ed14-1152-864/tom-steyer-2.png" border="0" alt="tom steyer" />WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As Boston Red Sox fans streamed into Fenway Park last April for an early-season baseball game, a small plane circled above, towing a banner that read "Steve Lynch for Oil Evil Empire." Downtown, truck-mounted video screens looped attack ads against the Democratic congressman, who was running for a Senate seat.</span></p>
<p>The man footing the bill for this sharp-edged campaign, San Francisco billionaire Tom Steyer, called Lynch "Dr. Evil" in a local TV interview because he did not oppose the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to the United States, which environmentalists say would worsen climate change.</p>
<p>When Lynch, a former steel worker, lost the Democratic primary to environmentalist Ed Markey, politicians across the United States were served notice: a deep-pocketed activist was willing to punish them if they did not tackle climate change.</p>
<p>Steyer's take-no-prisoners stance on Keystone, an issue that divides Democrats, and his willingness to spend millions of dollars to aggressively push his agenda, has raised questions about whether he might undercut the party's chance to retain control of the Senate in the Nov. 4 congressional elections.</p>
<p>But Reuters interviews with Democratic campaign officials paint a picture of a man who has evolved from bomb thrower to team player over the past year, even as he has rapidly become one of the most visible players in U.S. politics, a rare liberal with the resources and willingness to counter conservative megadonors like Charles and David Koch.</p>
<p>Despite high-profile threats against Democratic lawmakers who don't agree with him, Steyer is poised to work closely with the party's political allies on the shared goal of keeping the Senate in Democratic hands this year, the officials said.</p>
<p>While he may not help Democratic candidates who have close ties with the fossil-fuel industry, he is not going to try to hurt them either, they said.</p>
<p>It is unclear what prompted Steyer's evolution or whether the change is merely cosmetic. Those who have worked with him in the past say that while his passion is undimmed, he has gotten more strategic in his thinking over the past year.</p>
<p>"He started like a bull in a china shop, and then he got some wise counsel as to how the game is played," said one Democratic campaign strategist, who, like many of those interviewed, declined to be named because they work with him.</p>
<p>Even if Steyer is now more of a team player, he is still a flame-thrower when it comes to those he sees as his enemies, in particular the Koch brothers. In an open letter to lawmakers in April, he accused the Kochs of seeking to seize "complete control of Congress" by spending tens of millions of dollars on attack ads against Democratic lawmakers.</p>
<p>Steyer has in recent days stepped up his attacks on the Kochs, calling on them to "come out of hiding" and take part in a public debate with him on climate change, a challenge the billionaire brothers have declined.</p>
<p>"His comments show that he has joined forces with the individuals and groups who have been attacking us for the past four years because they disagree with our exercise of our First Amendment rights of free speech," Koch Industries spokesman Rob Tappan said.</p>
<h3><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">CLIMATE CHANGE A PRIORITY</span></h3>
<p>Steyer has revealed little about his plans to make climate change a central theme of the mid-term elections. But his organization, NextGen Climate, has started to talk with outside Democratic groups like House Majority PAC that coordinate television ads, phone banks and other election efforts, Democratic strategists said.</p>
<p>NextGen said it was also coordinating with other environmental groups like the League of Conservation Voters and the National Resources Defense Council.</p>
<p>Even as NextGen has called out oil-and-gas friendly Democrats like Mary Landrieu on its website, Steyer has raised money for a Democratic Senate group that is working to re-elect the Louisiana senator. He has been in touch with Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, who as head of the Democratic Governors Association is working to elect Democrats at the state level regardless of their stance on the Keystone pipeline.</p>
<p>"He's been very helpful to us," said Shumlin, who first met Steyer at summer camp in upstate New York. "He understands that Democratic governors are going to move the ball much more quickly on the areas that he cares about."</p>
<p>NextGen says Steyer's strategy has been consistent all along: support candidates who will make fighting climate change a priority and go after those who don't. Steyer "believes 2014 is a pivotal year when it comes to climate politics and is prepared to provide significant support in races where climate is on the ballot," spokeswoman Suzanne Henkels said.</p>
<p>With an anticipated budget of roughly $100 million, NextGen is one of the few outside groups that would have the scale to counter the network of Koch-backed conservative groups like Americans for Prosperity that collectively spent more than $400 million in the 2012 elections.</p>
<p>"The Republican and polluting industry denial machinery is immense," said Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who set up a fundraiser at Steyer&rsquo;s house in February that raised $400,000 for Senate Democrats. "Having somebody to stand up against that gives courage and confidence to a lot of us - it's not going to be a one-sided media barrage by the polluters."</p>
<p>As his national profile has grown, Republicans have portrayed Steyer as a Democratic puppetmaster who has been able to bend the White House and the Senate to his will, contrasting popular support for the Keystone pipeline with Democrats' increasing resistance to it.</p>
<p>They accuse him of hypocrisy, saying he profited from oil and coal investments at his hedge fund, Farallon Capital Management, before he became a full-time activist in 2012. Steyer said in 2013 he was selling off those holdings.</p>
<p>Republicans and other conservative critics have also suggested that President Barack Obama's decision last month to delay approval of Keystone was influenced by the environmental agenda of the Democrats' deep-pocketed donor. The White House says the decision has been put off for legal reasons.</p>
<h3>&nbsp;<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">NEXTGEN EYES RACES</span></h3>
<p>NextGen is expected to campaign against Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a climate-change skeptic, and back Iowa Democratic Senate candidate Bruce Braley. It will identify other races in the coming weeks, a NextGen spokeswoman said.</p>
<p>NextGen&rsquo;s policy of steering clear of races where both candidates are friendly to the oil and coal industries suggests they are unlikely to back Democratic Senate candidates in Alaska, Louisiana, Arkansas and Kentucky.</p>
<p>NextGen staffers recently visited Colorado in a sign they might get involved in Democratic Senator Mark Udall's tough re-election campaign. Udall has not taken a position on the Keystone pipeline, but his Republican opponent has said he does not believe human activity is behind climate change.</p>
<p>It's another sign, perhaps, that Steyer may be thinking tactically in the months to come.</p>
<p>"I don&rsquo;t think his underlying feelings have changed. But I think he realizes certain things are just not possible," said an academic who has worked with Steyer on his environmental efforts.</p>
<h3>&nbsp;<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">'SHARP TIP OF THE SPEAR'</span></h3>
<p>Steyer's use of brass-knuckle tactics came from a frustration with the genteel approach of other environmental groups, which in the past have emphasized issue advocacy over attack ads and other tools of traditional campaigns, say those who have worked with him over the past several years.</p>
<p>"You can push policy and talking points all you like, but unless folks feel the sharp tip of the spear at their jugular, they simply aren&rsquo;t going to be moved," said California state Senator Kevin de Leon, who has worked with Steyer on environmental issues in the state.</p>
<p>Steyer raised money for Democratic presidential candidates in 2004 and 2008 and bankrolled a 2010 effort to defeat a California ballot initiative that would have gutted the state's cap-and-trade law, as well as a 2012 ballot initiative that closed a billion-dollar tax break for out-of-state companies and directed the savings toward renewable energy projects.</p>
<p>During that second campaign, Steyer called top officials at companies that benefited from the loophole and gave them an ultimatum to either defend it to the public or stand down, De Leon recounted. The measure passed with little opposition.</p>
<p>Steyer can already point to several electoral victories. After the Lynch campaign, NextGen spent $8 million last fall to help Democrat Terry McAuliffe win the governor's race in Virginia.</p>
<p>Much of that effort was spent attacking Republican candidate Ken Cuccinelli, who as state attorney general launched an investigation against a University of Virginia climate-change researcher. But NextGen didn't just hit Cuccinelli on climate: the group ran ads criticizing his record on birth control, gun control and ethics. That campaign will serve as a blueprint for this fall's efforts, NextGen staffers said.</p>
<p>(Additional reporting by Valerie Volcovici in Washington and Rory Carroll in San Francisco, editing by Ross Colvin)</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-most-impressive-dynasties-in-america-2014-5" >The 23 Most Impressive Dynasties In America</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-billionaire-green-activist-shifts-from-bomb-thrower-to-team-player-2014-08#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/nebraska-judge-ruling-on-keystone-2014-2A Nebraska Judge Just Threw A Potentially Huge Wrench Into The Keystone Pipeline Permit Processhttp://www.businessinsider.com/nebraska-judge-ruling-on-keystone-2014-2
Wed, 19 Feb 2014 20:10:00 -0500Rob Wile
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/53055a916bb3f7676d677478-610-457/keystone-xl-map-zone-1.png" border="0" alt="keystone xl map zone" /></p><p>A Nebraska judge ruled Wednesday afternoon that Lincoln legislators violated the state's constitution when they granted Gov. Dave Heineman the authority to approve a route proposed for the Keystone XL Pipeline.</p>
<p><span>Lancaster County District Judge Stephanie Stacy</span>&nbsp;concluded that the decision should have been the sole domain of the state's public service commission, <a href="http://www.omaha.com/article/20140219/NEWS/140218464/1685#court-strikes-down-nebraska-law-that-allowed-keystone-xl-pipeline">according to Joe Duggan at the World Herald</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nebraska-keystone-pipeline-state-department-2013-1">We covered</a> Gov. Heineman's original approval of the route when he first made it in January 2013. Steele City, Neb. is the end-point for the leg of the pipeline that remains to be built.</p>
<p>The new ruling is being appealed, but if it is upheld, TransCanada, the company building the pipeline, would likely have to return to Nebraska to get the route reapproved by the commission.</p>
<p><span>&ldquo;Under the court's ruling, TransCanada has no approved route in Nebraska,&rdquo; Dave Domina, a lawyer representing the case's plaintiffs, said in a press release. &ldquo;TransCanada is not authorized to condemn the property against Nebraska landowners. The pipeline project is at a standstill in this state.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p>Last month, the pipeline <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-keystone-xl-pipeline-study-2014-1">got a seeming boost</a> from the State Department, which concluded in its environmental assessment that existence of the pipeline would have no meaningful impact on increasing carbon dioxide emissions.</p>
<p>The ultimate decision rests with President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, which will decide whether to grant a cross-border permit based on national security criteria.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/grantham-against-shale-2014-2" >GRANTHAM: America's Shale Boom Is A Dangerous Waste Of Time And Money</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nebraska-judge-ruling-on-keystone-2014-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-keystone-2014-2Obama Is Running Out Of Reasons To Reject The Keystone Pipelinehttp://www.businessinsider.com/obama-keystone-2014-2
Sun, 02 Feb 2014 06:59:08 -0500Josh Lederman
<h2>State Dept gives Obama political cover to OK Keystone XL pipeline looming over his legacy</h2>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) &mdash; President Barack Obama is running out of reasons to say no to Keystone XL, the proposed oil pipeline that's long been looming over his environmental legacy.</p>
<p>Five years after the pipeline's backers first asked the Obama administration for approval, the project remains in limbo, stuck in a complex regulatory process that has enabled Obama to put off what will inevitably be a politically explosive decision. But the release Friday of a long-awaited government report removes a major excuse for delay, ramping up pressure on the president to make a call.</p>
<p>The State Department's report raised no significant environmental objections to the pipeline, marking a victory for proponents, who argue the project will create jobs and strengthen America's energy security.</p>
<p>Environmentalists disagree and insist approval would fly in the face of Obama's vaunted promise to fight climate change, even as the report gives him political cover to approve it. They argue the report, which provides a detailed assessment of tar sands emissions, offers Obama more than enough justification to oppose the pipeline.</p>
<p>Obama is not tipping his hand. But the White House pushed back on the notion that the pipeline is now headed for speedy approval. Only after various U.S. agencies and the public have a chance to weigh the report and other data will a decision be made, said White House spokesman Matt Lehrich.</p>
<p>"The president has clearly stated that the project will be in the national interest only if it does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution," Lehrich said, echoing a declaration Obama made in a speech laying out his climate change plan.</p>
<p>A final decision isn't expected until this summer, at the earliest, meaning the verdict could potentially come in the run-up to November's midterm elections, in which energy issues are likely to be a factor in some key races. The decision might also coincide with the Obama administration's release of new emissions rules for existing power plants that are also politically contentious.</p>
<p>Because Keystone has become a proxy for the broader battle over energy vs. environment, Obama's decision will have an outsized impact on his environmental legacy. The issue has taken on a life of its own, trailing Obama seemingly wherever he goes.</p>
<p>Protesters, one who dresses as a polar bear, show up regularly outside the White House and at Obama events across the country to demonstrate against it. Both sides have run television ads urging Obama to take their side on the pipeline, which would carry oil from tar sands in western Canada 1,179 miles to a hub in Nebraska, where it would connect with existing pipelines to carry more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast.</p>
<p>"Sometimes you don't get to choose the symbol of an issue &mdash; they get chosen for you, and there's no better example of that than Keystone," said Daniel J. Weiss, director of climate strategy at the Center for American Progress and a Keystone opponent. "His decision on this issue will symbolize his record on climate and energy for people on both sides of the debate."</p>
<p>If Obama gives Keystone the green light, environmental groups that are already upset with him for promoting domestic oil and gas drilling are sure to pile on. Moreover, it's unlikely to win him any accolades from Republicans. Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster, said rather than give Obama credit for finally making the decision they wanted, Republicans will criticize him for taking so long.</p>
<p>Ironically for Obama, who has been seeking out opportunities to act unilaterally in the face of congressional gridlock, this is one decision the president may wish weren't up to him. Republicans seized on Obama's vow to use his "pen and phone" to take executive action this year as they urged him Friday to sign the pipeline's permit.</p>
<p>"Please pick up that pen you've been talking so much about and make this happen," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.</p>
<p>The White House has sought to dodge questions publicly about the pipeline by arguing the review process is housed at the State Department, which has jurisdiction because the pipeline would cross a U.S. border. But privately, administration officials concede that Obama will decide an issue of this magnitude.</p>
<p>Obama doesn't just face domestic pressure on the issue &mdash; Canada has been angered at the long delays of the project it needs to export its growing oil sands production. Obama meets with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper at a trilateral summit in Mexico in a few weeks.</p>
<p>Obama blocked the Keystone XL pipeline in January 2012, saying he did not have enough time for a fair review before a looming deadline forced on him by congressional Republicans. That delayed the choice for him until after his re-election.</p>
<p>Now that the review is complete, other government agencies have 90 days to comment. Then Secretary of State John Kerry makes a recommendation to Obama on whether the project is in the national interest, taking into account Obama's pledge that the effect on greenhouse gas emissions will be part of that equation.</p>
<p>The State Department report Friday said Keystone is unlikely to significantly impact oil sands extraction or the demand for heavy crude oil at U.S. refineries. Keystone opponents called the report flawed and argued it ignored evidence.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writer Matthew Daly contributed to this report.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Nedra Pickler on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/nedrapickler">https://twitter.com/nedrapickler</a></p>
<p>Follow Josh Lederman at <a href="https://twitter.com/joshledermanAP">https://twitter.com/joshledermanAP</a></p>
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<p><img class="nc_pixel" src="http://pixel.newscred.com-1-1/px.gif?key=YXJ0aWNsZT1hMjhhNDhkOTE0NDVkOTY3N2I5ZmRjYjFiYjhmNmNmOSZub25jZT1lODY2N2ZjNC1jMjRlLTQxODItODdhZS0xYmY1NTJlYWNjNGYmcHVibGlzaGVyPThjMDBmYmVlNjFkNWJjZjBjNjA5MmQ4YjkyZWJiY2Ex" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-keystone-2014-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/keystone-pipeline-information-2014-1Here's Everything You Need To Know About The Keystone Pipelinehttp://www.businessinsider.com/keystone-pipeline-information-2014-1
Fri, 31 Jan 2014 14:30:00 -0500SUZANNE GOLDENBERG
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/52ebf9ef69bedd2d382368f1-480-/workers-keystone-xl-pipeline-4.jpg" border="0" alt="workers keystone xl pipeline" width="480" /></p><p>What is Keystone XL?</p>
<p>The Keystone XL project would expand an existing pipeline from the vast tar sands of Alberta to refineries in the US Midwest, nearly doubling the initial capacity and transporting crude <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/oil">oil</a> deeper into America to refineries on the Gulf coast of Texas. Its proposed route would stretch about 1,660 miles, connecting Hardisty, Alberta to Port Arthur, Texas. It was first proposed in 2008.</p>
<p>The southern leg of the pipeline, from Cushing, Oklahoma to the Gulf Coast, was completed last year, and <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/01/22/265076621/keystone-pipeline-s-southern-section-begins-delivering-oil-to-gulf-coast">began shipping oil on 21 January</a>.</p>
<p>But TransCanada, the company behind the project, is still waiting for the State Department to approve the 1,179-mile northern leg that would carry crude from Alberta across the border into Montana and onwards to Steele City, Nebraska where it would connect with existing pipelines.</p>
<p><strong>What makes it different from other pipelines?<br /></strong></p>
<p>There are already about 2.3 million miles of pipeline across the US, carrying oil and natural gas. Some also carry diluted bitumen, the heavy crude from the tar sands that has a much higher carbon footprint than conventional oil.</p>
<p>What makes the Keystone XL pipeline different is the scale &ndash; and politics. Canada wants to double production from the Alberta tar sands, and needs new exit routes to do so.</p>
<p>Campaigners from <a href="http://350.org/">350.org</a> and other environmental groups <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/nov/07/keystone-xl-pipeline-protest-white-house">turned Keystone XL into a test case of Barack Obama's promise to act on climate change</a> &ndash; elevating a little-noticed infrastructure project into a national issue.</p>
<p><strong>Why did people oppose the pipeline?</strong></p>
<p>Environmental groups ini tally opposed the pipeline because it would tie America even more deeply into a highly-polluting source of energy. There were also concerns about pipeline leaks.</p>
<p>The first stage of Keystone had 14 accidents in its first year of operation.</p>
<p>But a series of accidents involving the shipment of oil by rail &ndash; including <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/true-north/2013/jul/11/1">a fiery crash last June at Lac Megantic Quebec</a>, that killed 47 and destroyed half the town &ndash; have undercut those arguments.</p>
<p>Protesters in Nebraska <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/nov/01/keystone-xl-oil-pipeline-nebraska">were also worried about the routing of the pipeline</a>. Initial plans called for the project to cross the Ogallala Aquifer, an important source of irrigation and drinking water, as well as the sensitive Sand Hills. The pipeline <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/nov/15/keystone-xl-pipeline-transcanada-reroute">was subsequently re-routed</a>.</p>
<p><strong>What are the arguments in favour of the pipeline?</strong></p>
<p>Canada is a neighbour and close ally and shutting down the project would damage relations. The Canadian government lobbied hard for this project. Alberta's premier made several visits to Washington.</p>
<p>TransCanada and other energy companies, as well as some major trades unions, argued that the pipeline project would create as many as 50,000 construction jobs. They also argued that it would give the US economy access to oil from a friendly neighbour &ndash; or so-called <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2011/jul/28/oil-tar-sands-canada-ethical">ethical oil</a>. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/canada">Canada</a> is already the largest single supplier of oil to the US, followed by Mexico &ndash; both friendly countries and neighbours.</p>
<p>The State Department estimates the project would create 5,000-6000 construction jobs. Obama last July put the figure even lower: just 2,000 construction jobs, and then 50-100 jobs a year.</p>
<p><strong>Does the US economy really need all that oil?</strong></p>
<p>No. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/nov/15/shale-energy-implications-geopolitics-america">America is in the midst of an oil and gas boom</a>, and on track to becoming an energy superpower. Most of the tar sands oil would eventually be exported, though there are plans to develop new markets for tar sands crude in the north-east. Oil prices are down because there is a glut in getting product to refineries.</p>
<p><strong>Why does it involve the State Department?</strong></p>
<p>The State Department is involved because the pipeline crosses an international border. Eight other government agencies are also required to sign off on the project, but the State Department has the final say.</p>
<p><strong>Why has it taken so long?</strong></p>
<p>Keystone XL grew into a highly charged political issue. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/jan/18/obama-administration-rejects-keystone-xl-pipeline">Obama blocked the project in early 2012</a> &ndash; taking it off the table as an issue in his re-election later that year.</p>
<p>The State Department was also obliged to conduct an additional environmental review of the project in response to concerns raised by environmental groups and Nebraska landowners. The State Department Inspector General has also investigated allegations first raised by environmental groups that contractors hired to assess the project for the federal government had financial ties to TransCanada.</p>
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<p><img src="http://hits.theguardian.com/b/ss/guardiangu-api/1/H.20.3/98867?ns=guardian&amp;pageName=Keystone+XL+oil+pipeline+%E2%80%93+everything+you+need+to+know+Article+2036092&amp;ch=Environment&amp;c2=53056&amp;c4=Keystone+XL+pipeline+%28environment%29%2CEnvironment%2COil+%28environment%29%2CCarbon+emissions+%28Environment%29%2CClimate+change+%28Environment%29%2COil+sands+%28environment%29%2CCanada+%28News%29%2CUS+news%2CWorld+news&amp;c3=theguardian.com&amp;c6=Suzanne+Goldenberg&amp;c7=14-Jan-31&amp;c8=2036092&amp;c9=Article" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /><strong style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><br /></strong></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/keystone-pipeline-information-2014-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/john-kerry-to-pursue-climate-change-treaty-in-2015-2014-1John Kerry Is Going To Pursue A Climate Change Treaty In 2015http://www.businessinsider.com/john-kerry-to-pursue-climate-change-treaty-in-2015-2014-1
Fri, 03 Jan 2014 06:42:17 -0500Danny Vinik
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/522da4d3eab8ea645c22b6a8-1200-858/rtx13d81.jpg" border="0" alt="john kerry" /></p><p>The New York Times reports today that <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/03/world/asia/kerry-shifts-state-department-focus-to-environment.html?pagewanted=2&amp;nl=todaysheadlines&amp;emc=edit_th_20140103">Secretary of State John Kerry is planning to make climate change a focal point of his time in office</a> and wants to pursue a global climate change treaty in 2015.</p>
<p>Kerry has set an ambitious agenda for himself, already in the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cape-ray-syria-chemical-weapons-2014-1">process of destroying Syria's chemical weapons</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iran-deal-reached-details-nuclear-program-sanctions-relief-2013-11">crafting a nuclear agreement with Iran</a> and brokering peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. Now you can add reducing greenhouse gas emissions to that list.</p>
<p>The former Massachusetts senator has long had an interest in crafting a domestic climate change bill. In 2009, he proposed ambitious legislation with Senators Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman, but it subsequently failed. Climate change has fallen off Congress's agenda in recent years with policymakers instead focused on the economy and health care reform.</p>
<p>Kerry's desire to sign a global climate change treaty is yet another sign that the Obama administration wants to make significant progress on climate change in its second term. Already, the Environmental Protection Agency has put forward rules on carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants, effectively stopping new construction. The agency is expected to propose new rules that could force current plans to close as well.</p>
<p>Obama also brought in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-adds-former-clinton-aide-to-shake-up-staff-amid-second-term-crisis-2013-12">John Podesta</a>, the former chief of staff to Bill Clinton, to focus on executive actions that the president can take with regards to climate change. One major decision that Obama has, and Podesta has recused himself from, will be over the Keystone XL pipeline. Environmentalists have long hoped that the president would reject Keystone.</p>
<p>Despite the Obama administration's willingness to take unilateral actions with regard to climate change, Kerry's global treaty faces long odds. Previous attempts to broker agreements have failed - including a summit in Copenhagen in 2009 that Kerry was involved in - and even if a deal was reached, it would then still have to be ratified by the U.S. Senate.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/john-kerry-to-pursue-climate-change-treaty-in-2015-2014-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/ryan-lizza-keystone-pipeline-approval-story-2013-9No One Has Any Idea Whether Obama Will Approve The Keystone XL Pipeline (TRP)http://www.businessinsider.com/ryan-lizza-keystone-pipeline-approval-story-2013-9
Mon, 09 Sep 2013 10:35:00 -0400Rob Wile
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/512e3e4a6bb3f73e46000006-480-/obama-keystone-2.jpg" border="0" alt="obama keystone" width="480" /></p><p>A lot of people, including us, thought President Barack Obama would by now have approved the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline.</p>
<p>The thinking went that the Canadian oil sands &mdash; out of which the pipeline would run &mdash; were going to be developed anyway, and the project had the potential to be used as a political bargaining chip by the administration.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/09/16/130916fa_fact_lizza?currentPage=all">But a new mega-take in the New Yorker from Ryan Lizza</a> shows that at this point, Obama's feelings on the project are anyone's guess.</p>
<p>At first, Lizza offers more evidence for those who believed approval was inevitable:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">"Accounts of Obama&rsquo;s private views about his second-term climate agenda suggest that he sees the E.P.A. rules as his real legacy on the issue, and that <strong>he&rsquo;s skeptical of the environmentalists&rsquo; claims about Keystone</strong>. 'He thinks the greenhouse-gas numbers have been inflated by opponents,' [Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Gary Doer] said. Journalists who discussed the issue with Obama earlier this year in off-the-record sessions said that he told them the same thing.</p>
<p>But then, Lizza details that&nbsp;<em>disapproval</em>&nbsp;and Obama's other environmental goals have gained the upper hand as the President's other policy initiatives, like immigration, have stalled.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">"[...] the deterioration of Obama&rsquo;s legislative agenda and the growing strength of the movement against the pipeline have convinced some that the odds are now higher that Obama will deny the pipeline permit. 'I think it&rsquo;s a fifty-fifty proposition,' [John Podesta, Bill Clinton&rsquo;s former chief of staff and an adviser to the Obama White House] said."</p>
<p>Technically, the decision is not even the President's to make. The State Department must approve all border projects, and the administration has previously said it would not preempt the State's oversight.&nbsp;</p>
<p>And a State official recently told Fox News that its final environmental impact assessment <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/26/keystone-decision-likely-delayed-until-2014/">won't be finished until 2014.</a></p>
<p>So it looks like we're just going to have to keep waiting.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/understanding-keystonexl-pipeline-debate-2013-2" >Everything You Need To Know About The Keystone XL Pipeline</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ryan-lizza-keystone-pipeline-approval-story-2013-9#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/5-things-obama-can-do-to-create-jobs-now-2013-95 Things Obama Can Do To Create Jobs Right Nowhttp://www.businessinsider.com/5-things-obama-can-do-to-create-jobs-now-2013-9
Mon, 09 Sep 2013 08:35:00 -0400Josh Barro
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5217a3b5eab8eafc1e00000d-480-/ap349575517803.jpg" border="0" alt="Barack Obama" width="480" /></p><p>It's easy to blame Congress for the federal government's paralysis on job creation. But here are five job-creating options that lie squarely within President Obama's power, if only he is willing to pursue them.</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Nominate Janet Yellen to chair the Federal Reserve.</strong> This can't be stressed enough: The number one risk to job creation in the U.S. is a too-quick monetary tightening. Bond yields have already risen on the expectation that a Larry Summers-led Fed would mean tighter money. A Yellen nomination would soothe markets, creating an expectation that Bernanke-era easing policies and lower interest rates will last longer, driving investment and job creation. I'm not sure I fully believe <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bank-economists-summers-as-fed-chair-would-cost-05-off-gdp-and-350000-jobs-2013-9">Julia Coronado's forecast</a> of 350,000 to 500,000 extra jobs if Yellen is nominated, but the effect would be positive.</li>
<li><strong>Approve the Keystone XL pipeline.</strong> The State Department <a href="http://keystonepipeline-xl.state.gov/documents/organization/205612.pdf">estimates</a> that the construction project would support 42,000 jobs during its construction period; over the longer term, the effect would be cheaper and more reliable oil supplies, and a marginal shift of world oil markets toward a friendly power (Canada) and away from more troublesome ones. The main reason to oppose the pipeline is because of its impact on carbon emissions, but Obama has a better way to contain those: A plan he <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obamas-carbon-plan-isnt-good-but-its-the-best-thing-around-2013-6">laid out in June</a> to use the Environmental Protection Agency's regulatory power to force states to cap carbon emissions. Unlike blocking Keystone, those caps can reduce carbon emissions in a way that generates revenue for state governments, which can in turn be spent in ways that foster job creation.</li>
<li><strong>Propose an infrastructure plan that isn't designed to draw Republican opposition.</strong> Democrats keep attaching <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/barack-obama-didnt-propose-a-tax-cut-but-the-media-keeps-saying-he-did-2013-7">tax-increase</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_10/shoring_up_senate_support_for032645.php">poison pills</a>&nbsp;to their infrastructure plans and then acting surprised when Republicans won't support them. In today's low-interest rate environment, infrastructure spending should be financed with debt, not taxes. Obama should try again for an infrastructure bill without any revenue offset. As a sweetener, he should offer to repeal the Davis-Bacon Act, which forces contractors on federally-funded infrastructure projects to pay inflated wages. Davis-Bacon repeal would make infrastructure spending more cost-effective and more appealing to the Republican-held House.</li>
<li><strong>Let more homeowners refinance.</strong> The best time for aggressive action to fix underwater mortgages was four years ago. The Obama Administration has been held back by an unwilling Congress, but they also made errors of their own, including failing to replace Federal Housing Finance Administration head Ed DeMarco, a Bush appointee who has blocked some principal reduction efforts. This month, the Senate should vote on confirming ex-Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.) to succeed DeMarco. He should proceed with Obama Administration plans to offer more principal reductions to underwater borrowers and expand eligibility for the Home Affordable Refinance Program. That would get hundreds of thousands of additional homeowners spending less on mortgage interest and more on other things, creating jobs.</li>
<li><strong>Focus on making sure Congress doesn't create new fiscal troubles.</strong> One bright spot for future jobs reports is that our years-long experience with fiscal austerity should be ending: tax receipts are rising again with the (tepidly) growing economy, state and local governments are hiring, there are no more temporary tax cuts with looming expiration dates, and sequestration has been mostly implemented. The end of fiscal drag ought to mean stronger job creation in 2014, unless Republicans manage to get more spending cuts as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling this fall. Obama's stance, correctly, is that there should be no further austerity. It will be easier to win on that issue if he prioritizes it over other politically challenging proposals, such as a Summers nomination or bombing Syria.</li>
</ol>
<p><span style="line-height: 22.5px;">Yesterday, I <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-the-real-problem-in-the-august-jobs-report-2013-9">looked at</a> how last month's jobs report was disappointing and why we can't necessarily expect the numbers to get better anytime soon. But if Obama takes the five steps above, things should start looking a bit better.</span></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-the-real-problem-in-the-august-jobs-report-2013-9" >This Chart Shows The Real Problem With August's Jobs Report</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/5-things-obama-can-do-to-create-jobs-now-2013-9#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-disputes-job-projections-for-keystone-xl-pipeline-2013-7Obama Disputes Job Projections For Keystone XL Pipelinehttp://www.businessinsider.com/obama-disputes-job-projections-for-keystone-xl-pipeline-2013-7
Sat, 27 Jul 2013 20:57:00 -0400Jeff Larson
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/51f46bddeab8eaf61b000014-480-/barack-obama-201.jpg" border="0" alt="barack obama" width="480" /></p><p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President&nbsp;Barack Obama&nbsp;called into question the number of jobs that would be created from the controversial&nbsp;Keystone XL pipeline&nbsp;in an interview with&nbsp;the New York Times&nbsp;released on Saturday.</p>
<p>"Republicans have said that this would be a big jobs generator," Obama said, according to the newspaper.</p>
<p>"There is no evidence that that's true. The most realistic estimates are this might create maybe 2,000 jobs during the construction of the pipeline, which might take a year or two, and then after that we're talking about somewhere between 50 and 100 jobs in an economy of 150 million working people."</p>
<p>TransCanada Corp's proposed pipeline is designed to carry 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day from the Canadian oil sands and the Bakken shale in&nbsp;North Dakota&nbsp;and&nbsp;Montana&nbsp;south to refineries on theU.S. Gulf Coast. It would cost about $5.3 billion to build.</p>
<p>Obama's administration&nbsp;is under pressure from Republicans and business groups to approve the project because of the economic benefits they say it will bring.</p>
<p>Environmentalists oppose the project because of the carbon pollution they say it would generate. Carbon emissions are blamed for contributing to global warming.</p>
<p>The project was first proposed in 2008 but is still making its way through a State Department study process.</p>
<p>The Times&nbsp;said Obama disputed an argument that the pipeline would bring down gasoline prices. He said it might actually increase prices somewhat in the&nbsp;U.S. Midwest, which would be able to ship more of its oil elsewhere in the world, the paper reported.</p>
<p>Obama said in June the project would serve U.S. interests only if it did not "significantly exacerbate" carbon pollution.&nbsp;The Times&nbsp;quoted him as saying that&nbsp;Canada&nbsp;could potentially be doing more to "mitigate carbon release."</p>
<p>The administration's final decision is expected later this year or early in 2014.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-disputes-job-projections-for-keystone-xl-pipeline-2013-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/will-keystone-xl-pipeline-up-emissions-2013-6The Government Is Extremely Confused About Whether Building The Keystone Pipeline Will Increase Emissionshttp://www.businessinsider.com/will-keystone-xl-pipeline-up-emissions-2013-6
Tue, 25 Jun 2013 18:48:00 -0400Rob Wile
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/51ca1fb3eab8eab30d000000-480-/alberta-oil-sand-petroleum-coke-piles-4.jpg" border="0" alt="Alberta Oil Sand Petroleum Coke Piles " width="480" /></p><p>Today, President Obama said he would not approve Transcanada's Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport crude oil from Alberta's oil sands to the Gulf of Mexico, unless doing so would not cause a net increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.</p>
<p>But this issue has already been studied by the government &mdash; multiple branches in fact &mdash; and it's confused.</p>
<p>Here's what State Department had to say in its March&nbsp;<a href="http://keystonepipeline-xl.state.gov/documents/organization/205563.pdf">draft Environmental Impact Statement</a> for the pipeline:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">[F]rom a global perspective, the decision whether or not to build the Project will not affect the extraction and&nbsp;combustion of WCSB [Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin] oil sands crude on the global market. However, on a life-cycle basis and compared with reference crudes refined in the United States, oil sands crudes could result in an increase in incremental GHG emissions.</p>
<p>Translation: oil sands development in general will definitely increase emissions. But building the pipeline will not.</p>
<p>A month later, the Environmental Protection Agency disputed State's findings, <a href="http://documents.latimes.com/epa-reviews-keystone-xl-report/">writing in a letter to the Department</a> that its model for determining emissions is outdated, and that it needs to further probe Transcanada's commitment to putting measures in place that would limit greenhouse gas release.</p>
<p>The final call on the true potential of the Keystone to produce net greater emissions will probably be published in the Final Environmental Impact Statement, expected later this year.</p>
<p>The White House did not respond to a request for clarification.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pacific-island-nation-kiribati-may-be-gone-in-60-years-2013-6" >This Island Nation May Be Gone In 60 Years Because Of Climate Change</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/will-keystone-xl-pipeline-up-emissions-2013-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p>